Quitting smoking or chewing tobacco are just 2 of the many habits/addictions that are often addressed with Hypnosis. While teaching Quit Tobacco classes for 4 years I learned much that I like to share with people who might be struggling. While my classes (through a county Public Health Department) did not include hypnosis, I used tools like Guided Imagery and many people found this very helpful. First let me share with you a few facts that I learned and shared with my students. There are over 4000 chemicals in cigarettes. Some have been put there with the sole intention of addicting the brain.

What is all this talk about consuming placentas? When I bring it up in my HypnoBirthing® Childbirth classes I get a real variety of reactions- mostly reservations to outright repulsion. Then the jokes start flying about keeping it in one’s freezer etc. It is neither repulsive nor weird. We are the only mammals who do not naturally consume our placentas. Once one understands the amazing benefits of doing so, those beliefs about it being weird or gross pretty much dissipate. If you (or someone you know and love) have ever struggled after a difficult birthing with discomfort, low breast milk supply or postpartum

As a longtime birthing professional and baby advocate, I have grown to accept and understand how powerful the experience of the baby in your womb truly is. Does it matter if you have a stressful job? Is it of any concern that you and your partner speak harshly to each other because of the stress in your lives? What if your house is in the middle of a remodel? Do any of these things impact the baby in your womb? In my HypnoBirthing® classes, which I have been teaching for the past 17 years, I help pregnant couples become aware of what their

Recently a new fertility client shared with me that her IVF doctor told her that stress had nothing to do with conceiving a child and pregnancy. I was taken aback because I was sure that doctors had come further along than that!! Are we not continually barraged with data about how stress affects our health on every level? To address this issue in more biologic/medical terminology, let’s speak for a moment about the Hypothalamus, the neural center at the base of the brain linked to the pituitary gland. It controls the flow of hormones in the body. The hypothalamus is sensitive to stress

In the 17 years I have been teaching HypnoBirthing® Childbirth Education classes, one of my favorite parts is a little experiment I love to perform. In Class I, after the introductions, I ask each parent to talk about their vision for their baby’s birth. Some of the reactions I get remind me of when we were told in college that we’d have an exam the next day! When the dads sort of relax and sink into the couch thinking this is something the mom is surely meant to answer, I add…”dads too.” I write down all the responses and let them know I

Have you, or someone you know, ever shared that they would love to give birth at home but their partner/husband is just not on board with it? I have had this scenario come up many times over the 17 years I have been teaching HypnoBirthing®. With my background as a therapist, couples are willing to bring it up with me to process it. Here are some suggestions: Share with each other your vision for the birth of your baby. Each partner can take 5-10 minutes while the other partner just listens- no comments/questions until they’re done. Discuss/make a list of the pros